Tender Loving Care
by VioletStella
Summary: Angela gives Tony a little tender loving care after the boxing match in "Raging Housekeeper". Very UST; but not much else.


Although a majority of the family wanted to go out for a victory celebration, all Tony wanted to do was go home and soak in a tub for a very long time. Toward that end he convinced everyone, except Angela, to enjoy recapping the fight somewhere other than the house and to bring him home something good to eat.

Angela opened the door to the kitchen and helped Tony into the house. Although she was sorry he was in pain, she had to admit to herself that she liked the fact that Tony was momentarily dependent on her. His arm being around her probably had quite a bit to do with that. She was surprised by how much she enjoyed having Tony's arm around her, his warmth and strength granted her a security she didn't feel with Geoffrey. If she had only known a fight would be a good excuse to be this close to Tony, she would have been much more in favor of the event from the start. Angry with herself for being so mentally unfaithful to Geoffrey, she tried to evict all thoughts of Tony from her head, which turned out to be impossible as she was supporting him as they tried to navigate through the house.

They made their way into the living room, the door between the rooms providing more of a challenge than usual as it was difficult to make their way through the swing of the door. It was similar to trying to make the putt at the windmill in the miniature golf course.

"Couch," Tony barely managed to say, as they finally made their way through the obstacle.

Angela walked him over, slowly. Together they even more slowly sat down on the couch. Tony took his arm off of Angela's shoulders; she missed his touch immediately, suddenly she felt as though a very important part of her was missing.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked as she reluctantly pulled away from him.

Tony closed his eyes and leaned against the back of the couch, "a month on a beach in Tahiti would be good."

Angela smiled, and tried not to think of Tony on a beach, try as she might though, she couldn't get the idea out of her head. With great effort she brought herself back to Connecticut and said, "sounds a bit ambitious for you right now, you can't even make it to the plane. How about I bring Tahiti to you?"

"How would you do that?" he asked, his eyes still closed.

"Hot bath with lots of bubbles, champagne, massage..."

Tony liked what he was hearing, he had no idea that stepping back into the ring could yield such pleasant results, if he had he would have done it a lot sooner. The word 'massage' was especially tantalizing. Angela wouldn't really give him a massage, would she? He didn't dare let himself imagine it. Trying to ignore that thought, and it wasn't easy to do, he concluded that Angela meant she would call someone to come over.

Still, the thought of a massage from Angela wouldn't leave his mind. It would feel so good after a long afternoon of pain. Angela's hands working their way from his neck all the way down his back; the tenderness of her touch gently caressing all the tender areas of his skin.

Maybe she'd even kiss the sore spots and make him all better. He smiled at that thought; a guy could dream, couldn't he?

"Tony?" Angela asked, wondering what he was smiling about, maybe the pain had gone to his head.

Tony opened his eyes, his fantasy taken away, but the object of his fantasy in the flesh somehow even better than the fantasy itself.

"The tub in my room has eight jets, could help get rid of some of the aches and pains."

"Could get rid of a lot of the aches and pains if you were in there with me," he thought. Prudently, instead of voicing that thought, he swallowed and said, "yes, it could, Angela," hoping Angela didn't hear how strangled his voice was at the moment.

If she did, she ignored it, "good, you stay here and relax for a bit and I'll go run the bath."

"I promise not to do any vacuuming while you're gone."

Angela smiled at him as she left the couch and made her way upstairs. Secretly, they were both relieved to be apart from each other for a few minutes. They both needed time to bring themselves back to their reality; the one which conveniently ignored the obvious attraction between them.

"Tony, do you need help getting upstairs?" Angela called down after a few minutes.

"Yes," he answered very quickly. Whether or not he actually needed the help was irrelevant; no man would turn down an offer to get his arm back around Angela.

Angela rushed down the stairs, concerned that Tony might be suffering from a concussion and would need a trip to the hospital. It wasn't like him to be so willing to accept help from anyone, especially her.

"Are you all right? I mean relatively speaking, of course."

"Sure," although trying to remove himself from the couch completely contradicted his statement.

Angela came to his rescue by sitting down next to him, putting her arm around his waist and his arm back around her shoulders, where it belonged. Tony wondered if there was any way he could charm her into using this maneuver any time either one of them needed to get up from a seated position.

"On the count of three. One...," Angela started.

"Two," Tony joked, making it sound like it was a major accomplishment that he could still count to two. Angela just smiled and shook her head.

"Three," they said together. It was an effort, but they managed to leave the couch.

At the bottom of the staircase Angela made a suggestion, "Tony, you might want to take off the jacket before going upstairs."

"Good point."

Now all he had to do was figure a way out of the jacket without causing himself any further injury. He tried, he really did, but even the slightest movement of an arm was torture. Angela saw his pain and knew there was only one option; she had to help him off with his coat. This created a dilemma in her mind; what were they going to do at the tub? If Tony couldn't even take off his coat, how was he going to get undressed for the tub? Dare she undress him? Intriguing as that idea was, it was also fraught with innuendo.

"Angela? Little help here?" intruded on her thoughts.

"What? Oh, sorry Tony."

As gingerly as she could Angela tugged at his jacket, she took one side in her hand and slowly dropped it off his shoulder. The other side quickly followed, she had to be fast, this whole situation was causing her to blush. Never before had she had the opportunity to undress Tony and she was enjoying the situation far too much, her mind was her enemy, taunting her with thoughts of undressing Tony on a more frequent basis. She hoped Tony wasn't noticing the subtext of their situation; or if he was, that he wouldn't comment on it. Their best hope right now was to keep with their standard policy of ignoring everything. She hurried behind him to grab the coat before it hit the floor, then placed it on its proper peg near the mirror.

For his part, Tony found he definitely liked Angela removing his clothing. Someday he hoped to return the favor; repeatedly.

"So, staircase," Angela said overly brightly.

"Yup, that's what it is," Tony agreed.

Angela smirked at him, he smiled back.

"I'll come over to your right so you can hold on to the railing with your left hand."

"Fine."

Angela put her arm around his waist and his right arm over her shoulders in their now almost accustomed to walking position. It was a surprise to both of them that the hand rail made the trek up the stairs a little easier. It might have even been possible for Tony to make it up the stairs by himself, but this wasn't a hypothesis either one of them were willing to try.

After a few minutes they finally reached the bathroom. The tub was full and the jets were bubbling away, Tony had to admit it did look very soothing. Once again he rued the fact that this would be a solo bath. Someday, hopefully someday soon; Angela would come to her senses about Geoffrey. And after that; well, the tub was big enough for two, two very close together anyway and that was the whole point.

"Tony, do you need anything?"

The restraint he had to use to keep himself from saying any one of the answers currently running through his head was Olympic strength. Instead he went with the mundane, "sweat pants in the bottom drawer of my dresser and check the first aid kit for some pain relief cream."

"Sure," Angela left the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. She wanted Tony to have privacy, but she wanted to be close by in case he needed her.

Tony was now in a dilemma: how to get undressed without causing himself any further trauma. He decided that removing his shoes would be a good place to start. A chair, he needed a chair; he just didn't think he could make it out to the dressing table to drag that chair in. There was no other option, "Angela!" he yelled.

Angela came running back to the bathroom, sweatpants in hand, "what is it, Tony?"

"I need a chair."

"Of course; I'm sorry I didn't think of it before." She placed his sweat pants on the counter and hurried to the bedroom, returning with the chair in record time.

"Thanks, now all I have to do is figure out how to sit down."

"Here, give me your hands."

He did and she held on tightly and he lowered himself into the chair. He started to lean forward to take off his shoes, but realized almost immediately that this was a mistake. He winced in pain and leaned back in the chair, "I feel like I'm 80," was his only comment.

Angela sat on the side of the tub near him, "don't be silly Tony, an 80 year old couldn't do what you did today," she said in an attempt of a joke. Without thinking she bent down and took off Tony's shoes and socks.

"Thanks, Angela. Think I could get in the tub now?"

"You're still dressed, Tony."

"Right now, even a fully clothed bath sounds good."

Yes, here was the situation Angela was worried about. Should she offer to help him off with his clothes? And if so how would she even go about making such an offer? "Should I tear your clothes off now, Tony?" "Care to get out of those restraining clothes, Tony?" "So, um, Tony, you need any more help with those clothes?" There was no possible way to word this without sounding suggestive; and even though Angela knew Tony wouldn't take it that way, it was still inappropriate in her mind to make any comment.

"Angela, could you grab the bottom of the sleeve?" While Angela was rejecting overtures in her head Tony decided the only way through this was to bite the bullet; he needed Angela's help, and even if he didn't, why pass up such an opportunity?

Angela seemed to agree with him, so she pulled the sleeve. Fortunately, the sweater had a lot of give, so Tony was able to move his arm out without too much pain. They repeated the process with the other sleeve. Now all Angela had to do was get the sweater off over his head. No problem. Nope, no problem at all. So why was she hesitating?

"Angela, you wait any longer and the water will be cold."

Damn, she was hoping he hadn't noticed her reticence.

"Sorry. Ok, can you lean forward a little?"

He could. Angela clutched the bottom of the sweater and pulled it up to his shoulders, then off. The procedure was over quickly and Angela would have been relieved, but now there was the issue of Tony's pants. The sweater was bad enough, how was she going to handle taking off Tony's pants?

Angela turned to the counter to fold up Tony's sweater, she didn't even look at him.

"Thanks Angela, I can handle the rest."

"You can?" she asked, still overly intent on folding.

"Yes, gravity's a wonderful thing."

She smiled, he couldn't see it, but she did.

"Ok," she picked up his shirt, "there are some towels for you," she pointed toward the towel rack. Still not looking at him, and it was silly not to, she'd seen him shirtless before; many, many times, today in fact. There were even times she swore Tony went around the house shirtless for no reason at all other than macho display, and she was certain he didn't mind her looking; but right now Tony shirtless in her bathroom was a vision she couldn't let herself see. Angela scurried out of the bathroom with a quick, "enjoy!"

Tony watched her go and was amused. He probably could have removed the sweater by himself, but it was so much more fun having Angela's help. The tub was waiting and he worked as quickly as he could to get the rest of his clothes off and ease himself into the tub. The experience did help soothe his aching muscles and he was grateful for it. After a very long and relaxing soak, his slowly healing muscles were sufficiently recovered enough to extricate himself from the tub and pull on his sweat pants. He let the water out of the tub and left the bathroom in search of Angela.

Angela was pacing out in the hallway. Having procured the first aid ointment, she was currently clutching it as though it was the source of her strength. She was muttering, "Geoffrey, not Tony, is my boyfriend. Geoffrey, with a 'G'. Yes, that's his name: Geoffrey." If she repeated it often enough she might even manage to remember it.

Tony didn't hear Angela's mumbled words; but saw an opportunity he could not pass up. "Thanks Angela, the bath was great. Still recovering, though, so I am going to lie down."

"Don't you want the ointment?" Angela asked as she held out her hand to him.

Tony had to be very careful here, if he played his cards right he could have a very pleasant nurse helping him; but he had to find some way to make Angela believe she thought of the idea herself. Toward that end, he started to reach to her, but stopped and winced.

"Oh Tony, are you all right?"

"Not really."

"Here, come with me," and with that she led him into his bedroom, pulled down the covers on his bed and plumped up the pillows.

"Damn!" Tony thought as he watched her in awe, that had worked even better than he thought it would. The Florence Nightingale trait was more pronounced in Angela than he had ever imagined.

"You're a good nurse, Angela," he said, somewhat amazed.

"Thanks, I spent a summer as a candy striper," like that had anything to do with her current duties.

"Oh yeah? I bet you looked really cute in your uniform," he flirted, all the while wondering if she still had it.

Angela rolled her eyes and shook her head, "get into bed," she said in a tone that cut off any thought of innuendo before it even entered Tony's head.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered and moved as quickly as he could to comply. This certainly wasn't the worst request a woman had ever made of him, in fact it was one of the best. He sat in bed, burrowed into the pillows and pulled the covers up to his waist. So far, his plan was working brilliantly.

Angela sat on the side of the bed.

Now Tony thought his plan was working even better than brilliantly.

"Damn!" she thought, here they were, just the two of them, Tony half naked. The whole situation was putting ideas into her head that she had no business thinking. They were boss and employee...and best friends...and she was dating...someone else, whatever his name was, somehow his name was once again gone from her mind. Tony was not her boyfriend, and needed her help to recover from physical exertion, he didn't need to be tempted into more physical exertion. Nor should she disrespect him by fantasizing about him.

This was simple medical care. All she had to do was spread the salve on the aching parts of his body. So why was her hand shaking so? She had to get herself under control, if Tony saw that she was the slightest bit uncomfortable with this, then he would become uncomfortable and would want to do this himself. There was no way Angela wanted that to happen. She wasn't proud of herself for using Tony's pain as an excuse to get her hands on him, but she wasn't fool enough to let such an opportunity slip by either. In her heart, all she really wanted to do was kiss every hurt place on his body and make him all better.

Banal conversation, maybe that's what they needed? Wasn't there a M*A*S*H episode where Margaret distracted a patient she was giving a sponge bath to by engaging him in discussing anything but the topic at hand? Angela sighed, this wasn't working, now all she had done was introduce thoughts of giving Tony a sponge bath into her head. Definitely not the direction she needed to go.

Making a herculean effort to clear her mind, she grabbed the salve from the nightstand where she had placed it before turning down the bed and said, "so...how 'bout those Mets?"

"It isn't baseball season, Angela."

"So, how 'bout those...whatever's in season?"

"Angela, could we focus here?"

"Sorry."

Angela squeezed some of the ointment onto her fingers, surprising herself by keeping her hands steady. "Where does it hurt?"

"Where doesn't it hurt would be a better question."

Angela giggled, "well, Indiana Jones, give me your elbow and we'll start there."

"Ha, ha." Tony had half a mind to go with the idea, after all, it worked out quite well for Dr. Jones. He really shouldn't have let his mind go there, now his thoughts were focused on wondering just how far Angela would play along if he did point out places that didn't hurt. He decided the answer was not very far so he helped Angela out of her current dilemma instead, "Angela, either shoulder is a good place to start."

"Right." Whether she meant that as an affirmative statement or her choice of shoulder, Tony wasn't really sure; but as she was closer to his right side, she did start with his right shoulder.

Angela touched his shoulder, gently circling her fingers, working the soothing ointment into his skin.

Inwardly, Angela kept telling herself to concentrate on the task at hand, which was probably not the best choice of words. Focus, focus, focus; if she didn't make eye contact with Tony, this would be much easier. But if she didn't make eye contact with him, wouldn't he notice that she wasn't making eye contact with him? And wouldn't that be uncomfortable in itself?

After his right shoulder was taken care of, Angela leaned over him to anoint the left. More circles, gently touching him from neck to that delightful drop off where shoulder became arm. Really, she shouldn't be doing this. After all, even though Tony was in pain, there wasn't anywhere he couldn't reach by himself. Her cheeks were flushed, she hoped beyond hope he didn't notice. He did, but was smart enough to know that commenting would only end this unexplored territory they were covering, and he most definitely didn't want that, but he was secretly very pleased by her reaction.

This was turning into another very pleasant consequence from the boxing match.

That was two shoulders done, and not even Tony had more than two shoulders, now Angela was in a predicament. Dare she continue this medical care on Tony's chest; or should she just hand the medicine over to him? She leaned back from him, his face was calm, she could discern no encouragement or discouragement on whether to continue. So he was leaving this up to her? Fine. This was now a challenge; and she wasn't backing down.

"Where else does it hurt?" If anyone else had been listening they wouldn't have heard the slightest bit of pout Angela managed to inflect into those words; but Tony heard it.

He wasn't backing down either, "everywhere." This was definitely better than he had imagined.

"Fine," Angela said, completely back to business.

Dabbing a little more cream onto her fingers, she started at the top of his sternum, slowly drawing a line down the length of the bone. If Tony had to work a little harder to keep his breathing under control, he wasn't going to let Angela know it. This was an undeclared war that neither was willing to lose, any sign of weakness, any break in the armor and the other would win. They both knew it.

A short pause, for more medicine, then Angela fanned out to Tony's right side, more circles, starting small, but then increasing in circumference. After all, she didn't want to miss any sore spots.

Tony silently thanked himself for teaching Angela the best way to wax a car.

Another moment for more ointment, then she moved her tender care to the left side, repeating the slow circles; after all haste makes waste and she didn't want Tony to end up in the emergency room due to her negligence. Angela had to give herself a little credit, somehow she was managing this without blushing profusely. She told herself that was because Tony was her best friend and when her best friend needed her, she was there. It didn't cross her mind that 'best friend' status should be transferred to Geoffrey. It also didn't cross her mind that it had never crossed her mind to transfer 'best friend' status to Geoffrey. Nor did it cross her mind that this should be a red flag in her relationship with Geoffrey.

Tony's mind continued to wander as he watched Angela. She was a good nurse, and images of her in something white, short and tight flooded his mind. Probably not the best way to think about his boss, or nurses; but he'd just blame it on taking one too many hits during the fight. And if thinking this way made him feel better, well, wasn't that the whole idea in the first place?

Angela stopped again to apply more salve to her fingertips, then she moved down to his waist. She touched him and he winced. "Sorry," she said.

"It's all right, Angela, it comes with the territory."

She smiled and continued to caress him. Drawing her fingers to his right, she was confronted by his appendectomy scar. This brought up some memories she shouldn't be thinking about right now. Just as quickly as, "Angela, I love you," appeared in her mind did she push it away, just as she had when Tony had said it in a medicated stupor a few months ago. Suddenly the fun was gone from this little game they were playing today. Angela pulled away abruptly and capped the tube of medicine.

It was time for a change of subject, toward that end she asked, "how about that champagne?" Great, champagne, another reminder of their anniversary. Angela winced inwardly.

Tony wasn't sure what just happened, Angela had instantaneously gone from warm-hearted care giver to guarded friend. Sensing the change of mood, he backed away from the champagne with, "no thanks, save it for some time when I can really enjoy it."

"All right. Do you want something to read?" She was staring at the window, not daring to face him.

"No thanks."

Neither mentioned her previously promised Tahitian massage, the idea was dropped by silent mutual consent. Someday they'd revisit the idea; often, but now was not the time.

Had he offended her? Did that remark about her candy striper uniform suddenly anger her? There was no way for him to know. He had to approach her somehow, so he choose gratitude, "thanks, Angela," he said simply.

She shrugged, "what are friends for?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't want Philly doing that."

Angela dropped her head in laughter, trust Tony to break the tension with a joke.

Encouraged, Tony moved a little closer, so they were almost touching, "I mean it, Angela, thanks."

"Anytime," she meant it too; and was very relieved she hadn't said anything to the effect of, 'it was a pleasure'. Not that it wasn't, she just didn't want to acknowledge any sort of physical pleasure between them. As it was her pulse was racing and her cheeks were flushed. Tony leaned in and kissed her cheek, sending a chill through her. She closed her eyes, lost to thoughts of Tony and all the affectionate moments they had shared...Christmas being the most recent. She was desperately trying to retain control.

"Dad? Angela? We're home!" Sam called out, slamming the front door behind her.

Angela was startled; she opened her eyes, the spell broken. She jumped up from the bed, terrified lest they be caught in what could be construed as a compromising situation, certainly her mother would construe it. She had to remind herself there was nothing illicit about it, she was just helping Tony in his hour of need. That's it. It was completely innocent. Yes, she'd swear to that under oath if she had to. Tony needed her and she'd cared for him with tender ministrations. She didn't really just use the phrase 'tender ministrations' did she? After confessing to herself that she had, she vowed it was time to take a break from the Harlequins.

They heard two pairs of foot steps rushing up the stairs, Angela dropped the medicine on Tony's dresser on her way out to the hallway to greet them.

Back in his room, Tony smiled, gratified by Angela's reaction, leaned back against the pillow and pulled the sheet up a little higher.

"What did you bring me to eat, I'm starved!" Tony called out to the kids.

"Veal Marsala and cannoli from 'Angelo's'," Sam answered as she and Jonathan ran into Tony's room, eager to see him. They were about to jump on the bed when Tony held out his hands to warn them off, "sorry kids, hugs are off limits for the time being." They settled in sedately on each side of him and told him of their adventures at dinner.

Mona arrived; she took one look at Angela, one look at Tony, one look at the tube of ointment on the dresser and bit her lip. Someone had had a much better time over the past couple of hours than she had had kid wrangling. Deciding it best to play it cool, for the moment, she said, "food's on the table, we even picked up something for you, Angela, feel free to reimburse me any time." Luring Angela into a false sense of security always worked.

"Gee, thanks. I'll go take care of dinner now, don't want it to get cold." Angela hurried downstairs, thinking she was escaping her mother's inquisition, she didn't trust the look in her mother's eye one little bit. Mona greeted Tony, then left him to amuse the kids while she went downstairs to grill her daughter. She cornered Angela in the kitchen; amused by her already having donned her pink apron, she was so cute when she tried to be domestic.

"I hope you washed your hands thoroughly before touching the food, don't want to ruin it with the medicine."

"Of course." There was no point in trying to deny the facts.

"Did you have a nice time playing doctor?"

"Mother," Angela warned, "I'm just helping Tony in his hour of need." If she kept telling herself that, maybe someday she would believe it. Desperately trying to escape her mother, she turned toward the counter near the sink to finish taking care of the food.

"Of course, dear." This was even better than Mona thought, Angela may have been able to hide it from the kids, but it was very obvious to Mona that both Tony and Angela enjoyed playing doctor very much. Her daughter was surprising her, she had no idea Angela could have been so aroused by the fight and subsequent tender loving care she was obviously giving Tony. She was mad at herself for not keeping the kids out longer, if she had, maybe what's his name would be gone for good.

Teasing her daughter had never been so much fun, so she pressed on, "you know those pain relieving creams have to be reapplied every few hours, don't you?"

Direct hit; no escape for Angela, she gripped the counter to steady herself with one hand and dropped her head into the other. Mona was jubilant. "Best hurry with dinner, dear, I'm sure Tony is hungry and however will he manage to feed himself?" She'd have preferred to mention how charmed Tony always was by her in that pink apron, but she was afraid that would put Angela off from ever wearing it again.

"Goodbye, Mother."

"Goodbye, dear; if you want, I can take the kids for a sleepover at my place tonight. Just to make sure Tony has a good night's...sleep."

Angela turned and glared at her.

"Just a thought; and don't try to convince me you aren't seriously considering it."

"Tony is recovering from a strenuous day," and she was not considering it, not seriously anyway, after all, Tony wasn't at his physical peak. And she had that boyfriend...whatever his name was.

"Nothing better to help recover from a strenuous day than a strenuous night. Think about it, Angela, you could kiss his boo boos and make him feel all better."

"Mother!" Angela protested; hoping there was no way her mother could see the same thought had crossed her own mind earlier; and unbeknownst to either of them, Tony's as well.

"And don't worry, dear, I won't tell Geoffrey with a 'G' how much you like playing doctor with Tony," her mission accomplished, Mona laughed as she left the kitchen on her way back upstairs to corral the kids, leaving Angela to try and sort out her over-stimulated mind and under-confronted guilt.

Angela slumped against the counter for support in defeat.

Upstairs, Mona hastened the kids out of Tony's room, telling them he needed some peace and quiet. On her own way out, she stopped at the door and said, "hey Tony,"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Invent some new aches and pains."

"Bye, Mona," he smiled and shook his head. The woman was incorrigible.

"Bye." Mona waved to him as she left for her own apartment, leaving Tony to admit to himself that inventing new aches and pains wasn't a bad idea.

Still in the kitchen, Angela took a very deep breath. There was no way they were going to make it through another session like that; Tony would have to apply the medicine himself from now on.

And who was she kidding? Those dog-eared pages in two Harlequins were going to be perused tonight.


End file.
